Google Hands Out ‘Dogfood’ as Christmas Bonus — Groans are issuing from the Googleplex over this year's holiday bonus. In the past, the search engine paid cash — as much as $20,000 or $30,000 per Googler, we hear. This year? A cell phone. — Oh, but not just any cell phone …

VHS era is winding down — Ryan Kugler, left, president of Distribution Video Audio in Burbank, and his brother Brad, the CEO, have shipped their last truckload of VHS tapes. “Anything left in warehouse, we'll just give away or throw away,” Ryan Kugler said.

Bono and Steve Jobs No Longer BFFs — What did Steve Jobs do to his old buddy Bono? The Irish rock star, once the Apple CEO's adoring buddy, is funding the most credible threat to the iPhone yet. — Bono is a founder of Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley private-equity firm named after the U2 song.

Music Labels In Talks To Create Hulu-For-Music (GOOG) — Warner Music Group — now banned from YouTube following failed licensing negotiations — isn't the only major record label tired of doing business with Google's video-sharing site. — A source familiar with the negotiations tells us …

Apple Failed To Copyright Mac OS X, Psystar Claims — The charge is the latest in a series of allegations in the ongoing legal spat between the clone maker and Apple. — Mac clone manufacturer Psystar said that Apple's copyright suit against it should be dismissed because Apple has never filed …

App Developer Strikes E-Book Deals With Major Publishers — ScrollMotion, a New York mobile app developer, has concluded deals with a number of major publishing houses, and is in talks with several others, to produce newly released and best-selling e-books as applications for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Private — There has been much discussion lately regarding the use of private iPhone APIs. First with Google Mobile's publicly acknowledged use of a private API to access the proximity sensor, then again with Landon Fuller's report of having an app rejected from the App Store for appearing …

BlackBerry vs. iPhone - The Smart Phone Battle Rages On — Research In Motion (RIMM) and Apple (AAPL) continue their smart phone battle for the hearts and minds of consumers, according to the latest ChangeWave survey. The survey shows Apple enjoying another good quarter in the aftermath of its 3G iPhone release.

Tech Chiefs See '09 Bright Pockets — Online Software, Mobile, Security Expected to Buck Downward Trend in '09 — The technology industry was dominated this year by the question of whether businesses and consumers would scale back their tech spending. Now that it's clear they are cutting back …

Washington Is Killing Silicon Valley — Entrepreneurship was taken for granted. Now we're seeing a lot less of it. — Even as economic losses and unemployment levels mount, America's most effective engine for wealth and job creation is being dangerously — perhaps fatally — compromised.

USA Today pretties up the news on the iPhone — USA Today, the national newspaper, has a long history of prettying-up the news with the use of color. Full color images, graphics and even sections have long been a staple of the paper, even when most of its peers were still in black and white.

Will Ferrell site, Funny Or Die, raises $3 million — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Internet comedy site Funny Or Die, supported by actor Will Ferrell and seeded by Sequoia Capital, has raised $3 million in cash from a single, undisclosed investor. — The financing also includes …

Inviting anyone to your applications — Invitations are one of the best ways for users to share applications they love with their friends. Many developers have told us that this is one of the biggest ways in which their applications reach new users and grow usage.

T-Mobile Dash 2 in black floating around? — Thanks to one of our ninjas, we've just got a hold of a brand-new-looking T-Mobile Dash photo. Except, it's in black, and sports subtle design changes like a different color combination on the keyboard, and.... stuff.

Dell job losses: “A massive blow to the region” — MINISTER Willie O'Dea today described Dell's decision to cut up to two-thirds of its Limerick workforce a “massive blow for the region”, and said it is now the Government's job to “minimise the fallout as best we can.”

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo as Ford, GM and Chrysler — Could Google, Microsoft and Yahoo be the equivalent of Ford, GM and Chrysler more than 60 years ago? — That thought provoking question was raised by Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay, who cooks up weekend missives designed to make you go hmmm.

Washingtonpost.com Executive Editor to Step Down — Jim Brady is stepping down as executive editor of washingtonpost.com after four years, the latest in a series of management changes at the top of a media company trying to revamp its operations to meet the needs of the digital age.